The goal is for independent third party companies to affirm commercial cloud providers meet the FedRAMP cybersecurity requirements. The agencies will model its approach after the one used to accredit vendors to provide products and services under HSPD-12. FedRAMP will not be ready until the fall.

In a world where blizzards producing 5-6 feet of snow can shut down a major metropolitan area like Washington, D.C., officials are re-thinking what it means to close the federal government for days at a time. But the new head of one agency that managed to keep going despite the blizzards says what you do as a federal worker is sometimes more important than where you do it.